


Hug Dealers

by AzzureThunder



Series: A Softer World [7]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: A softer world - Freeform, AU, Angst, Fluff, Hug-dealers, M/M, gift story, lots of hugs, short ass chapters, strangers-to-boyfriends
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-11
Updated: 2014-04-11
Packaged: 2018-01-18 23:05:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1446124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AzzureThunder/pseuds/AzzureThunder
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Some nights, you get out to the alley behind the bar and you're just drunk enough to ask that stranger for a hug job</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The music was thumping through Harry’s bones jostling him as he tried to move through the dance floor, trying to find Louis, who dragged him here in the first place. The older male had thrown several shots at him, and a few mixers before disappearing into the crowds using Harry’s ‘broken heart outing to get smashed’ (as Niall called it) as an excuse to get himself laid as well. He meant well, but he knew this was coming, knew Nick and Harry wouldn’t last. 

The curly haired youth eventually gave up, assuming his friend went home with some looker already. He could try to pry Niall away from the bar where he was shamelessly flirting with the tan skinned, Greek god of a bartender, but he didn’t have the heart. He was drunk, plaster really, and he just wanted to go home and sleep, curl up and cry kind of sleep. 

Harry manages to exit the club, but unfortunately he found himself in the back alley instead of the front street. With a huff and a strangled sigh, he leans against the wall, trying not to breathe too much of the air coming from the dumpster. Harry tilts his head back, facing the sky as he closes his eyes and tries to keep his swirling emotions in check. Alcohol always did make him more emotional. 

There’s a crash and a muffled curse, startling the overemotional boy, and Harry almost wants to scream. But when he looks to the other side of the dumpster, he just sees the back of a man, barely older than him, leaning against the wall, rubbing his knee. He hadn’t notice Harry yet, and was quickly distracted by his phone buzzing, and all Harry could notice was what nice looking arms this man had. 

“Hey!” He screams, his body reacting before his mind can, and he’s moving toward the newcomer to the alley. The taller male startles and looks over, eyes fearful, before flickering to confusion. “Hey! Mate, can I . . . Can I have a hug?” Harry asks, suddenly feeling stupid and weird, arms curling in on himself, head tilted down. 

Confusion is even more apparent on the stranger’s face, “A hug? You just want me to hug you?” He asks, taking a step closer, and Harry nods, hating this, “Please? I just . . . I really need a hug right now, and you have nice arms.” He mutters out, cheeks flushing prepared to be turned away, and scorned. But the stranger chuckles and pulls him in and, Damn, he does have nice arms, the wrap around Harry tight and hold him. They stay that way for a few moments before Harry hugs back and clings to this man, burring his head into his equally strong looking neck.

They start to sway after a few more moments, neither letting up, neither wanting to. But even not moving Harry is clumsy, and he jolts, his knees buckling, and the stranger catches him and their eyes meet and, Dammit! He’s beautiful too? How is that fair? So Harry laughs, biting his lip to try and stop the sound from bubbling forth, but the stranger is holding back chuckles too, and soon they both are hugging tighter laughing, and suddenly Harry is kissing him. 

This stranger isn’t moving away, or disgusted, and its funny how this is working for him, so Harry can’t help but laugh again, even though he’s still trying to kiss this beautiful man. But finally they part and Harry can’t remember why he was sad, or when he got so drunk, and he’s being asked where he lives. He rambles it out as he’s lead to the front street and has jittery now, giggling and swaying, “Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.” He keeps muttering “I want to do this again, nice hugs, nice arms, and nice eyes.” 

The stranger is laughing again too, and tugging at his arm; Harry lets him slide his sleeve up and watches as he writes something on his arm, the sharp smell of sharpie in the air. “You’re not coming?” He slurs and watches the head shake he gets with a intensity he didn’t know he could manage, Damn was he was smashed. He’s put into a cab with such gentleness that it makes his heart flutter, and almost burst out of his chest when the stranger leaves him with a final kiss on the temple. 

The ride home is quiet and hug-less and Harry hates it, but he’s so tired now, and he can’t wait to be home. He manages to get up the stairs to his flat, and after a few tries gets the door open. Louis is passed out on his couch, Niall on his armchair barely awake. There’s a grunt in acknowledgment, but besides that Harry just stumbles back to his room and passes out in his clothes, not caring to get changed.


	2. Chapter 2

There’s buzzing underneath Harry’s skin, forcing him to wake up and face the day, but finally forcing his eyes open through the pounding of his skull, he realizes it’s still night, and only manages to shimmy out of his clothes and curls up properly in his bed. 

After a few more hours of dreamless sleep, his green eyes crack open and all he feels is sick. So he rushes to the bathroom to puke and brush his teeth after a few minutes of dry heaving. Harry catches his reflection and resists punching the mirror, punching the hollow shell of a boy in the face. This wasn’t him; this was just what the world left of him.

Harry can hear his flat mate and best friend puttering around in the kitchen together and groans, thinking about facing them. He loved them, honestly he did, but sometimes they were too much for him to handle hung-over or sober. They were worried about him, worried he might go a bit off the deep end now that Nick was gone. Harry just wished they trusted him a lot more than to fall apart over a casual fling. (That’s what Nick called them. A fling, because he was older and had a stable career and Harry was just a liability.) 

Something black catches his eye and he sees a number scrawled down his arm, slightly rubbed red and faded on a few numbers, but still easily readable. Confused he plans on just scrubbing it off before he sees the name, scribbled right by his elbow, “Hug-Dealer.” And he remembers the hug in the alleyway, the warm, safe arms, the gentle smile, and those fantastic eyes. 

The curly haired youth hurries out to his room and copies the number down before he forgets too and hurries through a shower, scrubbing extra hard on his arm, determined not to let the others see the fading number. Niall would laugh, and laugh about how he found a stranger and hugged them and got a number from it, and Louis would be ten different types of worried and amused and forbidding that Harry sees him again. Which would just be the pot calling the kettle black honestly. 

So Harry scrubs and eventually its faded enough not to be noticed and his arm is pink and stinging, and it’s nice actually, to think about how he has something all for himself. He knows he should be careful, that this was strange and odd and really not a good idea, but he doesn’t care, he wants it, wants the security those arms offered him for a few more moments.

Out of the shower and more aware of himself he types the name into his phone, “Hugz” and falters on the empty text screen. Would this guy even answer? Would he even remember Harry? Would he care? So he risks it anyway and types in a quick message, hitting send before he can stop himself, “Hug job at 3, corner alley by the muffin shop. 2 days from now.” And he waits, and waits and dozes back off, keeping the day away until he had security, until he had a plan. 

Later while Harry is munching on stale bread and cereal, curled into Louis’ side, watching bad tv in the last hours of day light, his phone buzzes. “Hugzzzzzzz xcepted! Xx” is all it says, but it makes Harry sit straight and smile so wide Niall throws popcorn at him and Louis is give him ‘those’ looks worrying because that’s what he did. But Harry didn’t care, Harry had a deal accepted.


End file.
